Editor’s Note: The video below of the instructor contains numerous instances of foul and objectionably language.
WASHINGTON – A graduate instructor at the University of Illinois has been caught on camera threatening violence against a group of conservative students during an anti-Trump protest.
The professor, Tariq Khan, urged students to resist the president’s agenda and fight fascism and then began smearing conservative students who were members of the group Turning Point USA.
Turning Point USA is a nonpartisan organization, with more than 1,000 chapters nationwide, that equips students to advocate for the causes of free speech, limited government, and fiscal responsibility.
The conservative students began protesting during his speech.
“No one’s scared of you, 50-year-old man! Don’t you have kids to look after?” a student identified as Joel Valdez, an executive board member and campus coordinator for Turning Point USA, shouted as Khan disparaged conservativism.
Khan erupted, became belligerent and began accusing Valdez of threatening his children.
Editor’s Note: The video below of the instructor contains numerous instances of foul and objectionably language.
[jwplayer Ur8fJzQ8]
The instructor, who has taught courses such as “Constructing Race in America”and “U.S. Gender History since 1877,” was caught on camera throwing a punch at one of the students as they warned that they were going to call the police. He then snatched and destroyed Valdez’s cell phone.
“Khan immediately charged us, pushing us, throwing punches,” Valdez told the Daily. “We then attempted to defuse the situation and remained calm, but Tariq was uncontrollable and unhinged. I’m certain that Khan knew there was no threat; he just wanted to look for a fight. I wasn’t interested.”
Khan claimed he never physically assaulted the students.
“I did not confront them out of the blue. In fact, they showed up to the rally to intimidate and surveil leftist student organizers. One of their members … made a veiled threat against my children,” he told the newspaper. “It’s one thing to criticize my politics; it’s entirely another thing to threaten my children.”
“I did not ‘assault’ anyone,” he said. “I will not tolerate threats against my children, certainly not from a member of the ‘alt-right’ movement.”
The college instructor, who was a PhD candidate at the university, is also an active member in anarchist and communist organizations, including antifa and Black Rose Anarchist. He was placed under arrest and is now facing criminal charges.
He has been issued a notice to appear to appear in court for criminal damage to property, with police valuing the cell phone at $700.
This violent altercation comes as conservative students in Wisconsin face accusations of being “dangerous” and promoting racism and hate speech for attempting to launch a Turning Point USA chapter in their college.
Earlier this month, the Student Government Association of the University of Wisconsin rejected the Turning Point USA’s request to become an official student organization on campus..
Student government officials claimed the group supports racism and hate speech and endangers members of the trans and gender fluid community.
Marginalized groups would not feel safe if the chapter was officially recognized, Lyn Ciurro, a transgender student told Wisconsin Public Radio.
“They would be more likely to not return to school if they knew organizations like these were accepted and are now part of the UW culture,” Ciurro said.
Sen. Patrick Testin, R-Wis., weighed in on the suppression of conservative views on campus, arguing in a press release that the student government’s “decision stifles the free expression of ideas on campus and is antithetical to the mission of the university.”
Testin’s intervention prompted the vice chancellor for student affairs to immediately reverse the decision.
